Swale council and the area’s MP are urging the Government to think again over a huge hike in housing numbers which would see the building target increase by 91%.

Whitehall is consulting on changes to the system which indicates how many homes should be built in local authority areas, and could see more than a thousand a year constructed across Sheppey , Sittingbourne and Faversham .

The proposals include the introduction of a new formula to calculate housing targets. This would increase the new target for Swale by 43% – making them 91% higher than the targets in the council’s current local plan.

Swale’s current Local Plan was adopted in 2017. That set the target of 776 to be built each year between 2014 and 2031.

In July 2018, a change to the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework meant that figure rose to 1,038 a year and, now, this latest announcement means Swale council would be working towards 1,483 homes per year.

In response to the consultation, Swale council has written to Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to set out its opposition to the plans and MP Gordon Henderson is one of 10 Kent MPs who signed a letter calling for a re-think.

Cllr Mike Baldock, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for planning, said: “The idea increasing housing numbers will improve affordability is quite simply wrong.

“Swale’s housing numbers have increased exponentially in the past decade, but affordability has worsened.

“You’d think that when something has been tried for years and years and hasn’t worked, someone in the Government might think it’s time to try something else. The fact they can’t see that is baffling. Even the proposals to introduce new so-called affordable housing products don’t make sense – they’re simply not affordable for many residents who would otherwise benefit from shared ownership schemes.”

He added: “The proposal to widen the definition of ‘small sites’ from 10 to 40 or 50 homes will reduce the volume of affordable rent accommodation coming forward from 106 agreements, and have an adverse effect on infrastructure improvements.

“We’re already having to make some incredibly tough decisions with our review of the local plan, but the proposed changes to the target, on top of the separate proposals to introduce zonal planning, would make it impossible to have a meaningful approach to strategic planning.

“We lack the infrastructure to cope with current housing numbers, so it seems ridiculous to suggest putting the figures up even more.”

Gordon Henderson, who represents Sittingbourne and Sheppey, was one of 10 Kent MPs calling for the new targets to be scrapped. In a group letter, also to Mr Jenrick, the MPs warned the increase could leave many local plans in tatters and threaten community trust.

On Monday, Mr Henderson said he had received “hundreds of campaign emails” from constituents urging him to attend the House of Commons debate on Thursday on Planning Reform and House Building Targets.

The Conservative representative said it was impossible for him to guarantee attendance because Covid-19 security rules in Parliament means only 25 MPs, chosen at random, can attend. He has asked Damian Green, who has been listed to speak, to mention that Sittingbourne and Sheppey, like Ashford, had already taken more than its fair share of housing.

“I do share the concerns about the proposed changes to the planning rules,” he said.

Mr Henderson added that he and his fellow Kent MPs had not yet received a response to their letter.

Swale council said it did not know when the new targets would kick in, but that it was “working hard to finalise our draft local plan to be ready for public consultation at the end of January next year”.

The Government’s consultation on the changes closed on October 1. The consultation documents said the new approach was based on trying to meet its commitment to delivering 300,000 new homes a year, and achieving a more appropriate distribution of homes.

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